Parry Hall, Parry Road, Gloucester, GL1 4RZ ## **Annual Report 1[st] April 2020 – 31[st] March 2021** **Trustees** Candy Wiltshire – Chair Gemma Allen– Vice Chair Cat Illingworth – Treasurer Julie Smith ## **Governing Document** Increase the Peace became a registered Charitable Incorporate Organisation (number 1153861) on 19[th] September 2013. We have all necessary policies and procedures including a child protection policy. DBS checks are carried out prior to commencement of employment. These checks are carried out every 3 years in line with statutory requirements. ## **Objectives and Activities** The purpose of the charity is: _To help and educate young people especially but not exclusively through their educational and leisure-time activities so to develop their physical, emotional, social and behavioural capabilities that they may grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society and that their conditions of life may be improved, and to support other charitable purposes in the local community._ ## **Summary of main activities undertaken for the public benefit:** All our activities are undertaken for public benefit. Our main activities are educational youth clubs, outreach work and performances. We are open to all young people regardless of personal background, faith, gender or personal circumstance and we look for the person they can be rather than judging them by their past or background. We work with local partners, such as the police, schools, housing providers and local organisations, to provide joined up support to young people and we value the support and contributions from our partners. Our work benefits young people aged 7 to 25 by developing their self-confidence and social skills, alongside practical and life skills. We encourage them to make positive life choices to have a successful future and particularly focus on anti-guns, -gangs and - crime work. Our volunteers make a huge contribution to Increase the Peace and we could not do the work without them. They are always willing to give time, energy and ideas to making the projects and youth clubs succeed. ## **Achievements** Increase the Peace is well known in Gloucestershire for our anti-guns, -gangs and - crime work and we are often the ones the local community turn to when there is an issue. We have been unable to deliver much face to face work during 2020 – 21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic but have continued to raise awareness of the dangers of the knife crime, as well as being a listening ear and providing signposting. Supporting our local young people and their families is always our main focus and our work included advice, visits and advocacy for young people, siblings and parents. Delivering Easter eggs and Christmas gifts to vulnerable young people allowed us the chance to catch up with them and bring them some seasonal cheer. Restrictions permitting we also mentored 6 young people to provide much needed 1 to 1 support. We predominantly use our Facebook page to highlight issues and give support to our followers. Through this we held a colouring competition to engage young people, shared information about support agencies and regularly posted videos, including those promoting a healthy lifestyle. It is well received with feedback such as _“Delroy and team you do a wonderful job in Gloucester”_ and _“Thank you for the advice”_ . Our Facebook page also proved to be a successful medium for positive action. In partnership with the local Police we posted about their knife amnesty and offered to anonymously hand in any knives given to us. We collected 12 knives in 3 months and were told about more secreted around Gloucester (worryingly some in playgrounds). Other work this year included being involved in producing a short anti-knife crime film accessible on YouTube. We hope young people can identify with and learn from the main character – _“A socially confused teenager finds himself in a gang initiation, peerpressured into a situation he never wanted to be a part of"._ When restrictions eased, we were invited to spend a couple of days at Cirencester College, talking to the students about our work as part of their “Aspire” week. It was great to be part of their inspirational week. Many individuals and organisations tell us they have been inspired by the work we do and we are very grateful that several chose this year to fundraise for us. We were astounded by their efforts and achievements and very much appreciate all the donations we have received. We would like to especially thank Michelle Tanner and Paul Cromwell (completed the Coledale 10 peak challenge), Willem van de Worp from Emerging Futures, and Pinknoise Systems. Of special mention is Fin Brown who ran 10k every day for 10 days to raise money. He himself is a survivor of a knife attack and he said “ _after seeing all the hard work you do to stop knife crime and after what happened to me, [I was pleased] to do anything I can do to reduce the numbers. This has really helped me with my recovery_ ”. We are unsure about our delivery plans for 2021/22 at the moment due to Covid-19 but we will continue to support our community and share information as best we can. ## **Declaration** The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees: Signature: Name: Candy Wiltshire Position: Chair Date: 7/12/21 Increase ihe Peace Accounts 11412020 _ 311312021 Section A Receipts and Payments Unrestricted funds £ Restricted lund8 £ Total fund8 114119- 3113120 Receipt8 Grants and donath)ny 1,130 4,868 Total Re¢eipt8 1.130 1,130 4,868 Payments Costs of charrtable a¢b"¥its"es 1,S42 1.542 Total Payment8 1.542 1,542 4,564 Net of receipt$l{paym¢nt$l 14121 14121 Cash fund8 last year end Cash fund8 thi8 year end 1.875 1,463 1,875 1.463 1.571 1,875 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Categorie8 Details Unresiricted Re81rieted fund$ £ fund8 E Cash funds Cash al bank 1,463 Total cash funds 1,463 A$$ets retained for the ch8rity'¥ own u¥e Donated equyment Signed on behalf of Board Name: Position: Date: 211212021